Watch Guard
by Y2Jen
Summary: Edge's POV: when Chris Jericho is admited to a hospital one night, Edge refuses to leave his friends side although he could be on his deathbed...


Chris Jericho is not too good, he's very sick. He first fell under the weather back in the hotel after the taping of SmackDown and ever since then he's been here in a small town hospital, orders of Vince McMahon. I've chosen to stay vigil at his bedside incase he needs anything, but he can hardly breath no less talk. I sigh as I stare at the state he is in. Sure, Chris has been sick many times, but none like this, and I'm his best friend!  
  
"Man." I mutter to myself again, I can't take too much more of this. Just sitting there watching, helpless. I shake my head and try to stay on a positive note. I'm so lonely and unsure, I wish for somebody else to be here with me, anybody. RVD, Hulk Hogan, even Triple H! Just someone.. The door opens and I get eager, hoping for Test, Lance Storm and my brother Christian, they usually come to visit us. No, not this time, it's just a nurse. I sigh and my shoulders slump with sorrow. The nurse notices me and forces a smile. I try to grin back but I can tell it was grimaced. I bet I'm a sight for her with my hair all mangled and my cloths wrinkled plus I haven't had much sleep so that helps.  
  
"How's he been?" Her quiet voice breaks the tension. I look up, slightly startled.  
  
"Well, he, uh." I stutter, not knowing what to tell her or what she should hear.  
  
"Hmm, maybe it'd be better if I check for myself." The nurse laughed slightly. I watch her slowly move over to the side of the bed as she set down his chart. I watch carefully and she goes to bend down and reach over to feel his forehead.  
  
"No, wait!" I leap up and block her way. She jumps back a little shocked. "Sorry, but can't you see that he's finally gotten to sleep?"  
  
"I'm sorry Mr. Edge, but I have to." The nurse sighs and I pout and shuffle aside. She places her obviously cold hand on his forehead and his eyes flutter open. He hoarsely clears his throat and looks up as the blurry figures turn into the nurse and myself.  
  
"Heh, hey." I try to wave and Chris slowly smirks back. I start to smile too, just seeing him smile is making my stomach feel less nauseous. But he winces and my smile fades in a flash as I turn to see the nurse stick a shot into his left arm. I shiver, knowing Chris hates shots with a massive tee. He slinks under the blankets and I sigh at him.  
  
"Well sir," The nurse starts and both Chris and I look over at her as she places the damp cloth back on his forehead. "You still have a high fever so you need to rest." I sigh and Chris gives a sloppy salute as if to say 'be gone'. She leaves and I laugh a little and look down at Chris who smirks back up at me with a tired yet victorious grin. I can tell he's desperately trying to be himself. But he still is not. If he was well enough, Chris would be bouncing around and complaining about the bad accommodations not to mention his hyper active energy would turn into another comedy act used as an excuse to get out of this tight mess. But he's not that right now, no matter how much anyone wants him to be. I sit down as Chris yawns and falls back to sleep, much easier this time fortunately. I start to doze off when I hear the door opening again. No, I think, not more medicine now. No, it's the gang come back to visit. I get up to greet them.  
  
"Hey." Test waves to me.  
  
"Hey." I nod slightly. I notice Lance picking up Chris's chart and studies it. Though he may not act like it in the ring, Lance can be very emotional at times and he's also, not to mention, very smart. Test looks at Chris and back at the chart, trying to make odds and ends out. But he shrugs and gives that up, he's such a quitter! I laugh slightly.  
  
"Hey man." Christian comes over to me. I give an exasperated smile. "Here bro." He gives me an apple. I look up at him. "You know what they say about these guys. One a day keeps the doctor away." He shrugs. I bet he got it back at the hotel or something.  
  
"Heh." I start to laugh. "Too bad Chris didn't have a dozen of these huh?" Christian tries to laugh too but we stop and realize that not even a million apples could help Chris get well now. He gets up and puts his hands in his pockets as he looks at Chris. "You know something?" I start and my little brother looks over at me. "You never think something like this might happen, so you want to punish Chris for acting the way he does at times. But you never know how much you truly miss it until it's gone."  
  
"Edge.." Christian starts but he stops himself and closes his mouth with a sigh.  
  
"Well come on guys, we'd better go now." Test says as he sets down the chart.  
  
"Yea, see ya round." Lance looks at me, quite upset and very bewildered. They leave. I don't blame Lance for being like that, I know he wants to be with Chris but the hospital only allows one person. Lance and I both are equally best friends with Chris, but I can tell that Lance feels that he's more of a friend because of their past together. But me and Chris share a lot too, not just concerts and matches in the ring. We're really tight. I eat the apple and listen to the sounds of the hospital. Yea, real entertaining. Nothing but footsteps and nurses calling 'doctor' and the doctors replying 'nurse' and coughing and moans and groans and not to mention Chris's raspy snoring. It reminds me of the time when I was about 12 and Christian was 10 or so and he got ammonia and I kept vigil for him. Then I ask myself, if this were to ever happen to me, who would keep vigil for me?  
  
"Edgeward." I hear a quiet whisper. I perk up and see Chris looking at me.  
  
"What are you doing awake?" I ask as I get up, snapped out of my thoughts.  
  
"Are you ok man?" Chris asks between hard coughs.  
  
"Yea man, you?" I nod, quivering at the painful sounds Chris makes. I hate it when Chris coughs, though he gets sick a lot, the harsh sound hurts me too.  
  
"Guess." He slurs and tries to prop himself up on his elbows but can't.  
  
"Just rest man, relax." I put up a hand and he lays back down, going into a coughing fit again. "Man, man." I sigh, he sounds even worse now. The nurse comes in and I groan. Now I know why Chris hates doctors so much, they're so annoying!  
  
"Hi Edge. Chris, you're awake." The nurse notices and smiles. I nod and Chris tries to force on a smirk. Yup, his view of medics still haven't changed. "Here, open up." The nurse takes out a thermometer and pops it into his mouth. He makes a grossed out face and I try not to laugh at his joking around. The nurse waits patiently and looks over at me. She smiles and I give a small grin back. After a while she takes it out.  
  
"Yuck." Chris shakes his head like a cat does and I laugh this time, I can't hold it.  
  
"Well." The nurse clears her throat and we shut up and look at the floor sheepishly. "You're out of the danger zone now, keep it up, you're getting better." Chris and I grin happily and smile at each other. "Now take these." She opens her hand to reveal four pills. Chris makes a loud, long groan as he takes the pills with a glass of water and lays down pouting. I hold in my laughter but it still spits out through my lips. "I'll be back later." The nurse leaves. Chris and I look at each other and laugh but it causes massive pain for him and he coughs hard, holding his neck. I look down apologetically.  
  
"Don't worry man." Chris's hoarse voice cracks and I look up at him again. "Soon I'll be better and we'll never have to come back here eeeeeever again!" I grin at him and laugh. He coughs hard again and again and my smile fades. The nurse returns, each time with more medicine, which Chris takes without as much complaining as he'd usually give. Another thing that's unlike a normal, healthy, Chris Jericho. That night, I start to fall asleep for once. I haven't slept much since the first day here when Chris had a nightmare. I can't blame him. He hate's everything here, who wouldn't have a nightmare in Chris's case? All of a sudden, Chris let out a moan and he drew in a sharp, deep breath.  
  
"Chris?" I got up, fully awake now. He began to cough violently, rapidly, harshly. "Chris!" I started to shake him but he couldn't stop. Finally the spell ended and my heart beats hard in my chest, but soon he opened his eyes and I sighed with relief. "Chris?"  
  
"It's ok man, just a cough, it's alright." He assured but his voice was worse.  
  
"Ok." I sighed, not believing it for a second. Chris looked up at me.  
  
"Come on man." He grinned and I looked over at him. "Soon we'll be back on the road with the gang and hitting the next arena." He assured me, trying to stay positive.  
  
"Yea." I started to smile again. Chris laughed a bit but winced at the horrible pain it created in his throat. I frowned as he clenched his neck and lay back down. He fell asleep quicker than usual and the nurse came in bright and early. She woke me out of a half-asleep trance. I watched her curiously as she felt under Chris's chin and his neck.  
  
"So, anything good?" I asked as I saw her write on the chart.  
  
"I think he's getting better." She said as she listened to his heart then put the thingy around her neck and I grinned. Chris awoke with a small coughing fit and he blinked stupidly up at the nurse. I laughed slightly as he smirked. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"Well, I" He began but his voice was bad and it hurt him to talk so he stopped.  
  
"Here." She gave him a cup of water. He drank it and nodded to say thank you. As time went on, she returned with medicine less and less and there were only two pills rather than four. The nurse was right, he really was getting better. Later on that day, the door opened again. Chris looked up from his silent stare.  
  
"Great, not more medicine." I groaned. But no, it was the gang again. "Hey guys."  
  
"Hi." They nodded and noticed Chris was awake. "Chris!"  
  
"Man!" Chris grinned but even just that one word caused him to cough hard.  
  
"Oh man Chris." Lance shivered. "You sound horrible."  
  
"Thanks for rubbing it in." Chris said but his voice was a whisper. Christian laughed and I glared coldly at him so he stopped. I could tell Lance was still very upset.  
  
"Do you feel horrible?" He asked.  
  
"Well duh." Chris muttered and Test laughed a little.  
  
"Are you getting any better at all?" Test finally asked.  
  
"I dunno." Chris shrugged and I held up the chart to try to read it.  
  
"Uh, anybody know how to translate this to English?" I asked and everyone busted up laughing, even Chris who began to cough again so we stopped. The nurse came back in and looked at us as if in shock. We turned around to look at her a bit confused.  
  
"Oh I'm sorry, I guess you didn't know visiting hours are over." She said.  
  
"My bad." Christian shrugged.  
  
"Later." They all waved.  
  
"By." Chris and I waved back and we then turned to the nurse.  
  
"Open wide." She got out a stick and Chris opened his mouth. I watched her as she shone the light in and studied his throat with a serious tense expression. "Thank you."  
  
"The pleasure was all but mine." Chris muttered, he hated having his mouth looked at, too many bad memories of the past I guess, I really have no idea.  
  
"What?" The nurse didn't hear Chris. I decided to jump in.  
  
"Oh, uh, nothing." I led her away to talk to her. "Is he any better at all?"  
  
"Is there anything you need to tell me?" She asked.  
  
"Excuse me?" I was confused but then understood. "Well, the other night he jerked awake and got up in a nasty cough attack. It sounded real bad."  
  
"You just told me what I was afraid of." The nurse said quietly and wrote on the chart. I tried to see what she was writing, I had no idea what she meant.  
  
"Huh, what are you talking about?" I asked, getting a bit frantic. The nurse picked up the phone in the room but Chris and I couldn't hear her. We looked at each other then back to her and she hung up the phone. A few seconds later another nurse came in with a shot. "Not more medicine again." I groaned and Chris closed his eyes as they stuck it in his left arm. I can't blame him for hating shots, even watching it makes my arm sore. He fell asleep in a matter of minutes. "Hey, what's going on, what did you do to him?" They didn't answer. The two nurses got his bed and began to wheel it away. "Answer me!" I yelled in a demanding voice I had never even heard escape my mouth before. A doctor blocked my way. "What's going on, what's happening? What are they doing?"  
  
"He's being taken to the intensive care unit. He's in critical condition." He said.  
  
"What?" The word squeaked out of my mouth but the doctor left me alone. I felt my legs give way under me but I didn't care as I fell to my knees in shock and confusion. I thought to myself, what's going on, I thought Chris was getting better, the nurse said it herself! Besides, Chris can't be worse, if he were any worse he could die. And he can't die.. Right? I don't know how long I just sat there trying not to cry and trying to look at the bright side, if there even was one to look at. Finally I got up and wandered the halls, trying to run into a nurse who knew where Chris was now. I bumped into the nurse and she folded her arms when she saw me. I tried to look sheepish but she rolled her eyes.  
  
"Follow me." She sighed and a perked grin formed on my face as I followed her. She led me to a room on the third floor, only one floor above his old room. I gasped as she took me to a window. He lay in the bed almost lifeless. He had a cup over his mouth with a tube that led to a bag over his bed. I saw a wire that went under the collar of his 'shut the hell up' shirt that trailed to a machine that counted his heart rate. I looked away, I couldn't watch anymore of this. I felt like I was going to pass out or throw up. "I'm sorry but you can't go in there, you'll just have to go back to the hotel."  
  
"Ok, thanks." I muttered under my breath. I walked shakily back to the hotel and went into the room Christian and I shared. I had only been in there one night, the day before we taped SmackDown.  
  
"What happened, they kick you out?" He asked as I came in during the news.  
  
"Yea, he was taken to some intensive center unit." I said with sorrow in my voice.  
  
"Oh my gosh! Man!" Christian was in shock. He ran out of the room and went to Lance and Test's room across the hall. I knew he didn't want to tell them, but he had to. I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling, I think I did all night, I'm not sure. The next morning we all got up and ran to the hospital hoping for good news, but sometimes no news is good news. I was still exousted so the other three got their first.  
  
"Is he?" I heard Test ask as I came close to them.  
  
"We almost lost him last night, we nearly did it was so close." She said and I skidded to a stop in my tracks, nearly falling over and crashing onto a cart. "But after we got him back he made an amazing recovery. In and out of the critical condition care in just one day, it's the most amazing recovery I've seen in my days here." We all grinned. "He's back in his old room now." She said and moved out of the way as the four of us barreled down the hall and down the stairs as we came up to his room. The door was a jar and I went in first. The other three were outside talking to another nurse.  
  
"Chris?" I whispered as I came in but he was asleep. "Chris?" I said in my normal voice as I came up to his bedside. "Chris." I said, not calling him anymore, telling him. I could tell he was this close to smiling. Finally he couldn't hold it off anymore. "Yea!" I cheered and pounded his bed. "Let's go!" I tore off his blanket in one fail swoop.  
  
"Hey!" He laughed and reached for it but I threw it on the floor. I laughed as he grabbed one end and I held the other. We both pulled, tug o war. It was great to finally have fun with my friend again, I had almost forgotten what that was like.  
  
"Edge man." Christian said and we stopped to see the four of them. Chris was actually awake this time to see them visit. He looked up at them. I could tell that Lance Storm was trying hard not to cry or get too emotional and start to fuss over him like he did the first night back in the hotel.  
  
"Good job man." Test patted his back and put his hand assuringly on his shoulder. Chris laughed slightly and grinned up at them.  
  
"Hey." Christian smiled at Chris. I knew he had no idea how close Chris actually came with a brush of death. All I did know that he was happy he was ok, but also I bet he was just a little bit bewildered at this whole mess, we all were.  
  
"So Chris, if you keep up this rate in recovery you'll be out here in a week if not less." The nurse said and Chris sat up eagerly.  
  
"That's great!" He grinned excitedly but began to cough again.  
  
"I emphasized if." She held up a warning finger. "Like the other night showed you can still have a relapse and you could have to stay here longer."  
  
"No way." Chris shivered at the thought. "No offense lady, but I hate hospitals and all that doctor stuff. Shots and all that totally freak me out."  
  
"So will that be good motivation to get better and try to stay better?" She asked.  
  
"Yes!" We all yelled at the same time and laughed but Chris coughed again. The nurse left and we stopped.  
  
"Hey, we'd better go tell Vince." Test grinned.  
  
"Yea, come on, let's go tell everyone the news." Christian agreed.  
  
"Later guys." Lance smiled at us as he closed the door and left. I looked down at Chris who was laying down again. It was quiet for a moment and I could tell Chris had a much easier time breathing, his chest was hardly raspy anymore, if still at all.  
  
"Well Chris?" I began and he looked up. "So uh, how do you feel?"  
  
"Um," Chris cleared his throat hard but his voice was still pretty hoarse. "I think my fever is gone." He felt his forehead. "I can breath much easier and I'm less tired."  
  
"Riiiight." I did my Dr. Evil impersonation.  
  
"Ok." Chris blushed. "I'm still a little weak I think and my throat is still really killing me. Other than that, I'm fine." He looked up and I pouted strictly. "No really, I am. Trust me on this man, we'll be out by Raw and ready by SmackDown I assure you." I cocked my eyebrow, was he telling the truth? He saw my expression. "Really." Chris crossed his heart. I grinned and he laughed back but even that still caused him to cough. He yawned and fell asleep. I looked at the clock and realized how long I have gone with little or no sleep. Edgeward needed a nap. I stretched and leaned back on the chair. Chris is getting better and I do have ears, if he has another coughing fit or fever spell I'll be here and so will the nurses. Besides I know that Chris wouldn't lie to me, he promised he'd be better and Chris Jericho always keeps his promises, well, at least the ones he makes to the wrestlers and the gang and stuff. Later on that night I woke up, half-awake and listened to Chris snore softly. He looked much better, less flush and less pale. He was on the road to recovery, and I was on the road to dreamland. I was dead tired, so tired that I though I might have to stay in the hospital! Nah, no way man! Well, at least it was all over, all over for now. So until next time, this is Edge signing off and out, good night. 


End file.
